


When the World Falls Away

by notcool



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Author Is Sleep Deprived, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Morgiana is The Best, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:55:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25573189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notcool/pseuds/notcool
Summary: Sindria is suddenly caught in the midst of a violent earthquake that leaves buildings devastated and residents displaced. Morgiana is racing against time and the Earth itself to get citizens - and friends - to safety. But Sindria is a big place. How is she supposed to be everywhere at once?
Relationships: Aladdin & Morgiana & Alibaba Saluja, Aladdin & Morgiana (Magi), Eight Generals & Morgiana (Magi), Morgiana & Alibaba Saluja
Comments: 7
Kudos: 6





	1. The Ground is Shaking

**Author's Note:**

> I have no clue what this is. But it's here. Take it and run with it.

Morgiana, bare feet ever-so-sensitive to the ground beneath them, was the first to feel it.

She froze, digging her toes into the earth and curling her fingers into her palms, startled. No - there it was again. A tremor.

Alibaba had been walking beside her, and paused realizing he was now ahead. “Morg? Everything okay?”

Morgiana opened her mouth to tell him, but another tremor ran through the ground.

It rattled the stones and made the grass at their feet quiver - from Alibaba’s wide eyes he’d felt this one.

“That.” Morgiana said. She glanced back to the city of Sindria.

They had been headed down to one of the meadows away from the city to spar, but it didn’t look like that would be happening right now.

“We need to get back to the palace.” She said. “Something’s wrong.”

As if on cue another tremor ran through the earth - if it could even be called that anymore. This was a rattle. A violent shudder that seemed determined to make them lose their footing.

Morgiana widened her stance, digging her toes into the dirt and narrowing her eyes at the palace rising up above the city. What was going on?

Behind her Alibaba made an indignant squeak as he was tossed up, barely catching himself on his feet.

“Yeah!” He said, tone snappy with adrenaline. “Something’s wrong!”

“Come on!” Without waiting for an answer, Morgiana bolted.

Alibaba was left behind by her sheer speed, but she didn’t worry - he would catch up. If something bad was happening, Sinbad and the others would need whoever they could get as fast as they could get them.

Looking back, Morgiana realized it probably would have been better for everyone involved if she had backed up a few steps to snatch up Alibaba before darting for the palace, but, well, hindsight isn’t worth much in these kinds of situations.

So she sped back up the trail and into the city, the ground shaking readily beneath each step.

People were stumbling out of their homes, blinking in shock as the earth did its best to misplace them. She kept going.

Past the (also very disoriented) palace guards and into the main hall where Sinbad’s throne sat empty. 

Where was that overconfident king when he was needed? Was he already at the source of whatever was causing this? What  _ was _ causing this?

She spun, looking for clues, but neither Sinbad nor any of his generals were in sight. What now?

Maybe Yamraiha’s lab? The king and his generals often gathered there in search of emergency solutions. At the very least the sorceress herself should be there, right? Yamraiha would know what was happening.

Biting her lip, Morgiana took off again, speeding through the palace to reach the right room. She skidded to a halt in the threshold, blinking determinedly into the lab.

The empty lab.

The whole palace was shaking now. Dust rained where the stones ground together. The ceiling beams creaked in protest as the weight they held shifted unnaturally.

_ This place is going to start coming apart. _ Morgiana realized.  _ I need to get out before it does. _

She turned from the empty lab and ran - behind her she heard the crash of stones and snapping support beams. She wove back through the palace, back to the main hall.

The door was right there. She hesitated a moment - what if there were still people inside somewhere?

A powerful tremor ran through the ground, jarring the ceiling beams of the main hall. More dust rained down from above.

_ I don’t have time to go back in again. _ She told herself, gritting her teeth.  _ I don’t even know if there’s anyone in there for sure. I just need to get out and find what caused this. See if I can help stop it before the whole island goes down. _

Mind made up, Morgiana charged out of the palace and back into the streets, racing past and around stumbling citizens as she searched for some sort of clue.

A glance to the docks gave her her new destination.

Ripples of shimmering blue rose up from the pier, sparking angrily where they made contact with the waters.

Morgiana dug her heel into the ground, changing her course for the docks, the ground rattling beneath each bound.

As she neared the docks she could make out the silhouette of General Yamraiha levitating at the end of the pier, blue energy arching out from her into a great wall that seemed to be fighting the sea itself.

The ocean beyond was thrashing, beating angrily against the barrier in waves far higher and fiercer than Morgiana had ever seen, even out in the deep seas. She stopped at the start of the pier, blinking out at the magician and questioning what good it would even do for her to go out there.

She didn’t have magic like Yamraiha, and she couldn’t exactly punch a wave into surrendering. What could she do?

She looked to her left and right frantically, trying to catch sight of any of the other generals or maybe Aladdin or Alibaba. Nothing.

The Earth’s rattling was only becoming more sporadic by the second cracks were running through the stone of building foundations. Pebbles were bouncing on the streets alongside various items civilians had dropped in their haste to flee collapsing structures. 

Morgiana set her jaw - she may not be able to fix whatever was causing this, but hopefully Yamraiha and the others could. In the meantime, the citizens of Sindria were in danger.

She kicked off the ground and leapt back into the city, snatching up stumbling citizens she passed before circling back out to deposit them in the fields, far from any tumbling debris.

She heard the undignified yelps when she dropped them unceremoniously in a heap, but didn’t bother to react, already speeding back in for the next round.

Minutes were passing. The fields were growing crowded but more organized as people unharmed rushed around to assist those bleeding and dazed.

This part of the city was mostly vacant now. As she made a last round Morgiana felt the ground beneath her feet starting to settle, reduced from violent shaking to uneasy tremors. It might have been comforting, except that the structural damage to the island was already done. The Earth may no longer be trying to fell them, but the walls and buildings of Sindria only appeared more unsteady as the ground slowly stilled.

Morgiana could only hope there weren’t any civilians still inside buildings. Most were crumpled heaps that she didn’t dare enter without due cause, as they certainly did not seem too keen to remain upright.

She returned to the fields to find General Sharrkan shooing citizens away from the city, calmly (if a little condescendingly) cautioning against returning to the streets just yet.

“The Earth is still, but the structures are still dangerous.” His voice was level but loud across the curious heads that turned to where he had dragged a crate to stand on. “Please remain here until I and others can assess the situation.”

The crowd was murmuring amongst themselves as he hopped down, catching sight of Morgiana and making his way towards her with a grim expression.

She stood straight as he reached her, staring up as she waited for whatever orders were to come.

“Morgiana, you’re both strong and fast. You think you can make it to the other side of the city without getting caught up in the rubble?”

Morgiana nodded curtly.

“Good.” He said. “I need to stay here and make sure these idiots don’t try and go in and get themselves killed. Can you search the city and other crop fields and make sure the other sections were evacuated. And if you can find where the bloody hell the other generals are, that’d be great too.”

Another nod. “I will do what I can.” She promised. On second thought she raised an arm to point towards the now distant docks, where the blue arcs of light had faded to a soft glow. “I do not know about the other generals, but Yamraiha is down at the pier. She seemed to be battling the ocean.”

Sharrkan raised an eyebrow at this, but apparently decided he already had enough to worry about, because he only nodded and waved for Morgiana to be on her way.

Morgiana gave an affirmative huff and dug her heel into the ground, rocketing off back into the newly-demolished streets of Sindria.


	2. Six Generals

She had to detour a few times to drop off civilians outside the city, but all in all Morgiana was making progress searching the streets. 

It was General Pitsi she found first - or, General Pitsi found her, rather.

The young general was flying low over the rubble on her trusted winged companion, and circled to land when she caught sight of the Fanalis. 

Morgiana jogged to a halt, keeping a careful eye on the surrounding buildings as they trembled with Pitsi’s landing.

“Morg!” The young general didn’t dismount, instead nudging the large bird to step up closer to Morgiana. “Any clue what’s going on? Drakon and I got the civilians out of this area but we can’t find any of the other generals - and the palace entrances are collapsed? Have you seen Sinbad?”

Morgiana bit her lip. “I was in the palace right before the quake, and I could not find King Sinbad. I think he must be out somewhere.” She turned a bit to nod back the way she’d come. “Yamraiha is down at the docks. I do not know what she is doing. Sharrkan is watching over the civilians we rescued and asked me to come find the rest of you.”

Pitsi nodded, expression darkening. “Well that’s four of eight generals accounted for.” She muttered. “I’m gonna fly to the southeast sector and see who’s down there. Why don’t you head northward and tell Drakon and anyone else you find to head for the docks so we can see who all we’re missing.”

It made sense. Compile the citizens and generals in one location, making it easy to tally who was there and who wasn’t, to comprise some sort of plan from there forward.

Morgiana gave a nod and what she hoped was a small smile. “I will. Be careful, though. Most of the buildings I’ve seen are unstable.”

“Aye aye,” Pitsi gave a little salute, already nudging her mount back to a safe taking-off distance. “See ya soon, Morg!”

The large bird leapt into the air, and the young general was off again. 

The loose gravel under Morgiana’s bare feet was unsettling given how smooth the streets of Sindria usually were. She shook the feeling away and started off again, this time heading straight north instead of looping to search every street, trusting that Pitsi had already taken care of the civilians in this area.

She found General Drakon easily amid the stirring crowd outside the north of the city. It would have been hard to miss the bright green reptilian spines even if he  _ wasn’t _ two to three feet taller than everyone around him. 

She darted through the people to relay Pitsi’s message, and as soon as she had finished darted back out again, back into the city, continuing to the farthest north section of Sindria. For a moment she could hear General Drakon’s deep, steady voice rolling over the people, effectively lulling the crowd into a calm as they began to shuffle to heed his command. 

It was Masrur she found next - the older Fanalis was holding up the better half of a three story building, from beneath which she could hear rubble shifting hurriedly. 

Morgiana didn’t bother to ask, only jogging to the other end of the crumbling structure and taking hold, hoping to take some of the weight off the general and balance it out.

After a few minutes there was a final, loud scrape of rocks underneath, and a familiar voice shouted, “I got it!”

Within seconds a string of frantic children were scrambling out from the rubble, followed by a panting Alibaba.

Once clear of the building, Alibaba bent over to breathe heavily, his - bleeding, Morgiana noticed - palms pressed into his knees to keep him upright. “That’s all of them.” He puffed to Masrur, not seeming to have seen Morgiana yet.

With a grunt the general lowered his end of the building to the ground, and Morgiana followed suit after he gave her a nod.

Hands now free, she went to her friend’s side, leaning a bit to see his sweaty, dust-covered face. “Are you alright, Alibaba?”

He started, blinking at her. “Morg! When’d you get here?”

“While you were under that building.” She said.

Alibaba offered a weak shrug in response, having not yet caught his breath.

“Your hands are bleeding.” Morgiana noted, pointing to the red smearing across his once-white clothes. 

Another shrug. “Oh well. I’ll heal. The kids needed dug out.”

She would have done the same, so couldn’t really complain. Giving his wounded palms one last frown she looked to Masrur. “The other generals are trying to get all citizens to the fields between the city and the docks. I guess whatever comes next will be decided from there.” She paused, before deciding asking was worth a shot. “Have you seen King Sinbad? Or any of the other generals? So far I’ve found Yamraiha, Sharrkan, Pitsi, and Drakon.”

Masrur furrowed his brows, but Alibaba beat him to an answer. “General Hinahoho is searching wreckage same as us. He’s a few streets over… if he’s not gone to drop off more people in the meadows.”

“I was with Spartos when the ground began shaking.” Masrur supplied, kneeling to gather the rescued children in his large arms. “He ran for the palace. Hopefully he is with Ja’far and King Sinbad as we speak.”

Morgiana could feel her nerves twitching. The toes on her right foot tapped anxiously against the uneven stones. “I went to the palace first thing also, but I didn’t see him. Or General Ja’far. Or King Sinbad. The palace was… oddly deserted.”

Masrur’s frown folded into a scowl, and he stood a little stiffly, shoving one particularily wriggly child at a dazed Alibaba. “Hinahoho and I will get these citizens down to the docks. You do what you can to find them - I will catch up with you once I know these people are safe.”

“Aye.” Morgiana nodded so sharply she almost jabbed herself in the chest with her own chin, determined eyes looking up to meet the shine of the older Fanalis. “I will do my best!”

Alibaba gave her a lopsided grin over the top of his squirming charge’s head. “We got the kids, Morg. You do what you need to.”

Masrur and Alibaba turned to head out of the city, and Morgiana rolled her shoulders and turned away as well, looking over the crumpled roofs to where the main structure of the palace stood tall, if a little threateningly given the cracks spreading through it.

King Sinbad could need help. Generals Spartos and Ja’far, too. If nothing else, she could at least try and see if there were any workers still in the palace that needed help getting out.

Rolling her shoulders, Morgiana kicked off the stones in a sprint for the palace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's way past midnight. why am i even still awake.


	3. General Spartos

The main entrance to the palace was caved in, and while there were a few gaps in the rubble that she could possibly squeeze through, Morgiana didn’t feel like doing so without a good reason.

She went around the outside of the palace, peering into holes in the walls but finding nothing. She was nearly to the back of the large structure when she heard stones shifting not far inside, and a small sound that may or may not have been a voice.

Wearily she searched the closest wall for a gap to look into.

“Lady Morgiana! Is that you?”

The voice came from above - a window on the second story was still somewhat intact, and General Spartos was leaning awkwardly out of to call to her. His head and left shoulder were in view, back to her and neck twisted to look out the window, a hopeful gleam in his young eyes.

“General?” She tilted her head up at him. “You should get down from there. The building is unstable.”

The laugh Spartos gave was strained at best, pained at worst. “I don’t suppose you could jump up here? I’m kind of - uh, in a situation.”

Morgiana frowned, but after a quick survey of his exact location determined her added weight wouldn’t bring things down immediately at least.

She crouched, and then leapt up to the window, catching the edges of the crumbling sill and pulling herself inside.

Well, that explained a lot.

General Spartos had his back pressed against the wall and one boot rooted into the floor, the other in the air as his leg trembled to aid his arms in holding up the weight of a pillar that threatened to fall completely on its side. He could easily have moved out of its path himself, but the unconscious serving girl lying in the hall had no such luxury. 

Morgiana didn’t bother with speaking, immediately bending to scoop up the girl and step well out of the pillar’s path.

Spartos glanced to her, offering a breathless puff of thanks as he shifted to lower the pillar to the ground.

He was careful, but even so the hall trembled with the movement. 

“We should… get down.”

Morgiana nodded and adjusted the girl in her arms, stepping up onto the windowsill and hopping to land in a crouch back on the street.

The scrape of boots told her General Spartos was also safely out of the palace, and she rose to find him slowly getting to his feet as well, looking sweaty and flushed, but overall unharmed.

Still, she supposed it was only right to ask. “Are you alright general?”

Spartos nodded, offering her a weak smile. “Yes, Lady Morgiana, I am fine. I was just worried the poor girl was going to be crushed. I guess I was just lucky to be in the palace when that pillar…” He blinked, apparently remembering why he had been in the palace in the first place. “Oh! I need to get back in! Sinbad and the other generals could need help!”

He started to head back towards the building, but Morgiana quickly rearranged the girl in her arms to put a hand on his arm. “King Sinbad and General Ja’far are still missing, but all the other generals are accounted for.”

Spartos blinked, chewing on his lip. “The… the city… how are things?”

“The city has been evacuated.” Morgiana assured, letting her hand fall when he stopped looking as though he were about to dart. “General Pitsi is flying over looking for Sinbad and any others. Masrur is going to be here at the palace soon. He and I can search - we’re the most likely to survive if a building comes down on us.”

Spartos didn’t seem too happy, but after a moment he let out a sigh. “I guess I’m not the best choice for searching collapsed buildings.” He held out his arms. “Where is everyone gathering? I’ll get the girl to a healer and see what I can do to help.”

Morgiana smiled a small, but genuine smile and stepped forward to surrender the serving girl to the general’s arms. “They’re in the fields between the city and the dockyard. I’ll finish going around. Masrur should be here soon - I’ll wait until he’s here to go in.”

“Good.” Spartos returned the smile as he tucked his own tattered cape around the girl against his chest. “Stay safe, Lady Morgiana.”

“You too, general.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I literally have no clue what I'm doing with my life anymore. Anywho... what'd you guys think?

**Author's Note:**

> So... any thoughts?


End file.
